This invention relates to a chuck for holding a pneumatic tire, which chuck is designed to hold a range of tire sizes. The tire is held in the chuck under pressure and can be subjected to any of a variety of operations, such as inspection, balancing, grinding and the like.
A number of chucking devices have been developed in the past which were designed to hold a tire for inspection or some other operation. Some of these devices, such as that of Neuhaus U.S. Pat. No. 3,801,786, are capable of accepting only a single size tire, and differing hubs must be mounted when different size tires are to be inspected.
Others, such as that of Golfier U.S. Pat. No. 3,728,542, show stepped opposing chuck members, which accept different tire sizes. The members, however, are rigid metal, incapable of flexure and opaque to x-rays. Sherkin U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,443 shows a similar device with the same limitations.
Honlinger U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,094 discloses a similar tire chuck device in which a tire is held between flat surfaces for inspection during inflation. The flat surfaces are rigid metal plates, with a rubber covering.